posted by: AliceB on July 8, 2016 10:31am

Maybe I’m missing something but when you got pulled over you stated that your heart was palpitating and you were really nervous and scared. Well, I’m not black but when I was pulled over that is exactly how I felt. Everyone feels that way. The officer was telling you your lights were not on?? Aren’t they suppose to do that?? It isn’t just your safety but the safety of others. Looks to me like you are just looking for some reason to portray yourself as a victim. When we get pulled over we know we probably did something wrong and that is what gives us anxiety Maybe the blame for the negative perception of the police is the fault of the press. Every time a police officer Is killed during a routine stop (and they happen often throughout the country) it does not make the headline. The race of the shooter is not plastered over the front page. But when what happened in Minnesota or Louisiana occurs there if is !! Now we have Dallas.

posted by: markcbm on July 8, 2016 11:14am

AliceB,

“When we get pulled over we know we probably did something wrong and that is what gives us anxiety Maybe the blame for the negative perception of the police is the fault of the press.”

You must have your head in the sand. There are abundant examples of folks being pulled over for no good reason, especially folks of color. And sometimes these stops have seriously negative and even deadly consequences for those in the car, despite their lawful behavior.

Are all the videos that have been released that show exactly this really not enough evidence to you of a very real, tragic problem?

Blindness such as yours, as well as the dismissiveness that follows, is what makes folks want to grab rifles and target police officers for revenge. Also, for what it’s worth, when cops are killed in the line of duty, it absolutely does make the news.

I support the police and think they have a tremendously difficult job to do. And I think that the overwhelming majority of police are not racist, and that most of the rest aren’t intentionally racist, but that racism has ingrained harmful prejudices that cause them to view black people as more threatening than other groups.

When you write, “Looks to me like you are just looking for some reason to portray yourself as a victim,” it looks to me like you are doing everything in your power to overlook the basis for other people’s experiences and views.

Blacks have been suffering injustice at the hands of police everyday in this country and have been since slavery - it’s just that finally people can document and disseminate the injustice so that it can become news… so that folks who don’t get it can, when confronted with the evidence, wake up, open their eyes, and pull their heads out of the sand.

Please, wake up!

posted by: NHLifer0411 on July 8, 2016 11:49am

I have to agree with Alice B. Most folks get nervous when a police officer pulls them over. The difference is that most times when whites get pulled over the worst that happens is that they get a ticket. When blacks, particularly men, get pulled over they have to make sure they aren’t killed.

posted by: DrHunterSThompson on July 8, 2016 11:53am

posted by: Morgan Leah on July 8, 2016 2:41pm

You are so worried about the cops, yet african american men are killing each other at 1000 times the rate the cops kill african americans. What was it 69 in Chicago over 3 days.

You should be more nervous about being shot by a black man then the cops.

posted by: NHLifer0411 on July 8, 2016 5:04pm

@ DrHunterSThompson .

“But we should all be even more afraid of racist snipers.”

Yup, like the Sniper in the SC church, and the sniper in the CT school, or Columbine, or the several dozen other mass killings in this country. I ask you though, what do they all have in common, besides the Dallas massacre?

@Morgan Leah

“You are so worried about the cops, yet african american men are killing each other at 1000 times the rate the cops kill african americans. What was it 69 in Chicago over 3 days. You should be more nervous about being shot by a black man then the cops.”

And what has that have to do with folks getting assassinated by law enforcement officers? The difference between the Chicago murders and the the cop killings is that the murderers in Chicago are brought to justice when caught. The cop killers never pay for their crimes.

posted by: Lyfesworth on July 8, 2016 6:19pm

@Morgan Leah It’s the on going excuse “look at black on black crime”. If you pull your head out you butt you would see most crimes are committed by people of the same race. White on white crime is at 85% but you won’t read about that cause it doesn’t sell! The real issue is WE pay the police to protect and serve, not to control and condemn. It’s a tragedy what has happened on all fronts. These senseless killings of both civilians and law need to stop! But having a badge doesn’t give you a pass to violate another person’s constitutional rights!

Even police officers of color are afraid of being stop by the fellow white officers.

Off duty, black cops in New York feel threat from fellow police .

Reuters interviewed 25 African American male officers on the NYPD, 15 of whom are retired and 10 of whom are still serving. All but one said that, when off duty and out of uniform, they had been victims of racial profiling, which refers to using race or ethnicity as grounds for suspecting someone of having committed a crime. The officers said this included being pulled over for no reason, having their heads slammed against their cars, getting guns brandished in their faces, being thrown into prison vans and experiencing stop and frisks while shopping. The majority of the officers said they had been pulled over multiple times while driving. Five had had guns pulled on them.

Zeigler is the highest-ranking African American officer in the NYPD. He says point blank that he was the victim of racial profiling He explains that he was parked in a department-issued SUV, but was wearing plainclothes. That’s when two lower-ranking NYPD officers approached him,After they ordered him to get out, one officer did not believe the NYPD identification Zeigler gave him.”

So give me a break with this When we get pulled over we know we probably did something wrong and that is what gives us anxiety.

posted by: MyTwoCents on July 8, 2016 11:24pm

On the news this evening was a story about a white Branford man pointing a gun at an off-duty police officer during a road rage incident. He didn’t just have a gun on his person, he actually POINTED it at the officer. The man was not executed on the spot, instead he was subsequently arrested, and rightfully so.

Contrast that with a road rage incident that happened a couple of weeks ago involving a black motorist and white off-duty cop. The motorist started punching the cop through the car window and had no weapon other than his fist. He wasn’t given the luxury of being arrested, he was just shot dead.

I wholeheartedly condemn the killing of police officers. I believe the preponderance of them are fair minded people who do the best they can in a very difficult profession. But I also know there are some who have no business wearing that uniform, brandishing weapons, knowing they can get away with whatever, by using that old police card “I feared for my life”.